Payment transactions that involve cashless transactions have been popular for a long time. One of the advantages of cashless transaction is that it is considered more secure than carrying cash. There are several payment devices that are used by consumers in a cashless transaction. For example, a credit card is one of the most widely used payment device in the world. Similar to the credit card, there are numerous other consumer payment devices like a debit card, a pre-paid card, a smart card, a contactless card, and the like. All these payment devices are widely used to today to conduct cashless transactions.
In addition to the above-mentioned payment devices that allow tendering of payment, there are payment devices that accept and authorize the tendered payment. Such payment devices include point of sale (POS) devices, contactless card readers, or any other type of reader that is configured to accept and authorize payment.
There are several entities that provide these payment devices. For example, various banks and other financial institutions issue several different types of payment cards. There are various companies that provide the corresponding POS devices, card readers, etc. All these devices have to be compatible with each other and with the payment processing system in order for the payment authorization processing to work. There are several entities that provide payment processing systems, e.g., VISA, MASTERCARD, etc.
Each of the payment processing systems has certain operating specifications. Any vendor that intends to market a payment device to work on any of these payment processing systems has to make sure that his payment device complies with those operating specifications. Furthermore, the operating specifications for one payment processing system may not be the same as that for another payment processing system. Hence, often the payment devices have to be designed to work with the intended payment processing system.
Each payment device has to be certified by the entity managing the payment processing system, e.g., VISA or MASTERCARD, with which the payment device is designed to be operable. In order for the payment device to be certified by the entity managing the payment processing system, the vendor has to provide test results for his payment device that demonstrates the payment device's compatibility with the payment processing system. The entity that manages the payment processing system usually provides a specification detailing the various features that may be included in a payment device. The specification may also provide information about the tests that need to be performed based on the set of features that are to be implemented by the payment device.
Currently, any vendor that wishes to market a payment device designed to be operable with a particular payment processing system has to read and understand the specification for the payment processing system, build a reference payment device based on the specification and features to be included in the payment device, select or have a testing center select proper test criteria for that reference payment device by studying the specification, and test the reference payment device using the selected test criteria. Often, the specification is complex and open to misinterpretation resulting in either the wrong reference payment device being generated and/or wrong tests being run on the reference payment device. This can result in an unduly long delay in getting the reference payment device accurately tested and certified and may consequently result in loss of time and revenue for the vendor.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a system that reduces or eliminates the possibility of misinterpretation of the specification and test criteria and provide reliable information to the vendors and/or testing centers.